


Climate Change, Y'all

by masked



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Climate Change, Established Relationship, Other, Spring Cas, Unfortunately not an Alternate Universe, Winter Dean, personification of seasons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 21:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20234500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masked/pseuds/masked
Summary: Winter and Spring are in love. They always have been since the beginning of Earth’s existence.Recently, it’s gotten harder and harder to see each other at regular.Or, the one where Summer constantly third-wheels on Winter and Spring because of climate change and everyone involved is unhappy about it.





	Climate Change, Y'all

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clotpoleofthelord (plantainleaf)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantainleaf/gifts).

> This is a little bonus Fandom Trumps Hate offering fic for [Lis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plantainleaf/pseuds/clotpoleofthelord), who generally donated twice as much amount as their original bidding, and so I wanted to do a little something extra for this unexpected act of awesomeness.

At first, everything was hotter.

To be exact, it was still colder compared to the current times when all the temperature on Earth was averaged out, but it was hotter at some places than others. And anyway, nobody complained about the hotness of Earth since it was expected and mostly everyone agreed that it was a good temperature to be at. It was like this for a long, long time until one small meteor came to visit Earth.

Nobody really liked that bit, except for Earth who was happy to see an old friend.

Then everything was cold for quite a while. Not for as long as it was hot, but still cold enough that people nowadays dub it ‘the Ice Age’. There were actually a few of those in between then and now, but when people say ‘the Ice Age’, they usually refer it to that one particularly long period that was featured in a popular animated movie franchise once. This is the time period that’s being described now, and this was around the time when the concept of Winter was born, though they existed for much, much longer than that.

Winter was by themselves for a long time. They figured out that they could shape every water drops into snowflakes with different details—even if they were always hexagonal—and for a while they observed some big, wooly beasts that didn’t seem to mind that Winter was there. Winter was happy to have the company, though they stopped seeing the big wooly beasts around after a while. Went extinct, as a matter of fact.

Winter stopped emotionally investing in living things that could die after that, and waited for something else to come along. Even if they were an eternal being, making snowflakes all day for thousands of years got old eventually.

Then, Spring arrived.

And when Spring arrived, Winter fell in love completely and unequivocally. Spring was beautiful, with fresh greens and gentle rainfalls and flower buds that swayed in the cool afternoon breeze, ready to burst with honey. Spring arrived gently but firmly, quietly but brilliantly, ready to wake everyone up from their deep slumber.

Despite the universal rule to always go forward in relation to the concept of time, Winter stepped back two steps to Spring, and asked, “Stay with me.”

And Spring, upon seeing Winter approach with their ever-so detailed snowflakes and dark forests contrasted against crisp quiet starry nights, who thought themselves barren but contained so much life if one just knew where to look, who was quite unlike anything they’ve ever seen, fell in love with Winter and promised, “Of course.”

(Though this may seem like they’re moving a bit too fast by human standards, they were fortunately not humans at all so neither saw a problem with this proposition.)

And so they promised to stay together for eternity. They adored each other, so much so that soon their reflections were etched into each other’s eyes, with Winter’s eyes the colour of Spring’s meadows that stretched for miles and miles, and Spring’s eyes that took on the deepest darkest shade of Winter’s fresh fallen blanket of snow.

Even if they were never at the same place for too long, Winter knew when Spring was close by and always eagerly waited for them. Spring always knew that Winter would be waiting for them upon their arrival, and this gave them enough strength to count down to the days when they will meet again. You may have experienced the days when they _were _finally together and reluctant to leave one another again so soon, those days with odd weathers like warm sunny afternoons that suddenly turns into a snowstorm and back into a warm night that melts the snow away.

Winter and Spring both go by many names. Humans, migrating birds, and squirrels were particularly specific about the naming convention depending on the regions they lived in. Recently, Winter had taken a fancy to the name ‘Dean’ and declared as such.

“That’s a human name,” said Spring one year. They were sweeping through the South Pole to arrive at the North Pole, with Dean ahead and Spring following suit as usual.

“Yeah,” said Dean. “But every name we’ve got were given to us. I wanted to try giving myself one.”

“Hmm,” Spring said.

“I don’t know how long I’ll stick with it,” admitted Dean. “But what’s one more name to add to the list, you know?”

Spring smiled and indulged Dean in their strange ways. “Of course, Dean.”

Dean liked how their name sounded coming from Spring. They always liked how Spring said any of their names, but this one they chose for themselves and so they were _very _fond of it now. Somewhere, an especially vigorous snowstorm occurred. “You should choose one, too. If you want.”

Spring cocked their head thoughtfully. Even personifications of a concept had thoughts, sometimes. “How about ‘Castiel’?”

“Castiel,” tried Dean. “Cas.” Dean grinned in approval.

Cas smiled too, and somewhere a spring shower blessed a thawing ground and quenched its seedlings.

So. Winter and Spring. Dean and Cas. Always near each other, sometimes together on blissful days even if it was much too short of a timeframe, but together nonetheless. They weren’t alone anymore.

* * *

But then, one day, Cas doesn’t show up.

* * *

Dean is in the Northern Hemisphere, whistling themselves a tune with wind through tree branches. They’re in a good mood; Cas is almost here and they can feel it in the air. They hope to get a longer glimpse of Cas this year since they were dragged away faster than they’d expected last year. Maybe this time, they might even stay around a bit longer to hang out properly.

Dean amusedly watches people that complain about slushy snow by the sidewalk, and turns away only to almost collide in a headbutt with Summer standing _right _there.

“_What _the—”

“Whoa,” says Summer, steadying Dean on their spot. “You alright?”

“You,” says Dean angrily and a little confusedly. “Why’re _you_ here? Where’s Cas?”

Summer frowns. “I should be the one to ask _you_ that. Why’re you still here?”

“Cas hasn’t shown up. I wanted to see them before I left. It’s always been like that.”

“Spring hasn’t arrived?” Summer’s frown deepens. “But that makes no sense.” Summer scratches their head and after some thought, gives a shrug. “Well, time for you to go, Winter. Autumn’s expecting you.”

“But I didn’t get to see Cas!” Dean stamps their foot down. A Columbian ground squirrel that was thinking about emerging soon instead curls up tighter in their hibernation underground to guard against the sudden rush of cold. “I’m _not _leaving until I see them.”

“Don’t be stupid,” chastises Summer. “You’ll see Spring again in a few months.”

“But I—”

Summer starts to push Dean away and Dean struggles against it, rattling every window that wasn’t secured properly on their way. In the end, it’s time for them to go and Dean grits their teeth and kicks at the ground for good measures, giving it a good freeze in the process. They look over their shoulder just to check and make sure that Cas isn’t just around the corner, but only Summer and their disapproving looks stare back at them as they unthaw the grounds that Dean just froze up.

For the first time in a long time, Dean feels alone again.

It’s an uneasy feeling that starts from the stomach and grows up to their chest to bloom in their throat and chokes them. Dean realizes that they hated being lonely and they hate it even more now that they know what it’s like to be in Cas’s company. For centuries they had never broken their promise to each other and now one day, Cas just… _decided _to not show up? It makes no sense.

Autumn quickly leaves as soon as they see how bad of a mood Dean is in, and Dean takes out their bad mood on Australia. They feel a little bad about it afterwards, but they don’t want to be in the same mood once they do eventually see Cas in a few months. Dean’s been in existence for as long as the Earth’s orbited the Sun but the next few months feels like an eternity spent while they wait for Cas to show up.

Instead, Summer shows up again.

“Okay, what the _fuck _is going on?” Dean asks angrily, jabbing their angry finger at Summer. “Where’s Cas?”

“How should I know?” Summer says helplessly. “This is fucking with me too, you know. I had to stay longer over there for some reason.”

“Did the Earth stop spinning or something?” Dean checks. She’s still orbiting the Sun and rotating at the same time as usual. She hasn’t tilted a few degrees overnight—there’s another 245,000 years to go, give or take, before she’s had enough of the angle she’s currently at and tries out a different angle. Dean’s bad mood worsens.

Summer eyes him warily and points North. “Autumn’s expecting you.”

“I _know _Autumn’s expecting me,” Dean snaps.

Summer shrugs helplessly. They yawn and shines an extra ray of sunshine down on Australia, giving a few tourists some nasty sunburns. “Well, Spring better be there next year,” says Summer. “I’ve been overworking lately already. I don’t want to cover for them on top of everything else.”

Dean rolls their eyes and slowly makes their way back up North. They’re starting to get worried now. Cas had never gone flat-out _missing_ before and Dean’s lost on what to do.

“Damn it, Cas,” Dean mutters as they miserably pass by a flock of birds migrating down South. “Where _are _you?”

* * *

To put it simply, Dean wallows. They hardly feel like doing anything and instead thinks about all the possible things that could have happened, and what could potentially happen. Something’s off about the air too, and it just worsens Dean’s mood.

What if Summer comes instead of Cas again? Did Cas forget all about Dean and leave them for another planet somewhere? What if something happened to Cas?

What if Cas never comes back?

It’s a very quiet winter. Some adults start to mutter about how unusually warm it is, and children are less than pleased about the lack of snow. But mostly, not a lot of people takes notice and goes about their days.

Dean attends Groundhog day. And yeah, okay, maybe Dean’s grasping at straws at this point but they have to do _something. _They do their silly little ceremonies and the President of the Inner Circle reads from a little paper thing that reads ‘there is no shadow of me; a beautiful spring it shall be’.

Dean perks up.

After the crowd scatters, Dean goes up to the groundhog. “Hey, are you sure?”

_? _thinks the groundhog.

“Is Cas—uh, Spring really coming early this year?”

_!_

Dean narrows their eyes. “If you’re lying to me, I swear—”

_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

“Okay, okay.”

The groundhog sniffs the air and goes about its groundhog business. Dean leaves the scene hoping to the laws of the universe that the groundhog knew what it was talking about.

For another few weeks, Dean waits with abated breaths. They try to make it snow to have something to do with their hands and it turns into a drizzle halfway down to the ground. Dean stares at the drizzle and tries again, but it’s too warm for snow. It turns into a drizzle again.

Cas is close by.

“Cas,” Dean calls with anticipation, hoping that maybe they can help to lead Cas back to them. “Castiel. I’m here. Come on—”

“Hello, Dean.”

Dean turns with their breath caught in their throat. “Hey, Cas—”

And pauses.

“Cas,” they breathe out, their arms already spread out wide to catch Cas in their embrace as they hurriedly make their way over to them.

Cas is a mess. Gone are their usual beautiful shine that they carry with them and instead replaced by something suffocating that seems to hover all around them. Cas gives a tired sigh as Dean holds them upright in their arms, and they bury their face into the crook of Dean’s shoulders.

“You’re late,” Dean says helplessly, almost entirely holding Cas up.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Cas says, muffled against Dean’s neck as they lay a small tired kiss there. “I didn’t mean to be. I missed you.”

Dean squeeze their arms tighter around Cas. “I—missed you too. What happened?” Dean frown at the suffocating air that surrounds Cas and tries to swat it away but it doesn’t do much. Dean shakes their hand in disgust at how it clings, and jumps in surprise when this creates a snowstorm they hadn’t meant to create. “The hell is this?”

“I don’t know, but I got lost because of it,” Cas says miserably. “It was always around but there’s never been this much of it before. Not to this extent. Haven’t you noticed?”

Dean had noticed, the offness of the air, but they were occupied with Cas’s disappearance that they hadn’t care to investigate it further. “Well, whatever it is, it better fuck off and not do that again.”

Cas huffs out a laugh against Dean’s shoulder and moves away slowly from their embrace. Dean starts to protest but Cas instead leans back for a proper welcoming kiss, and oh, well, Dean’s not going to complain about this.

Just as soon as their lips meet, someone clears their throat.

Right behind Cas is Summer, pointedly looking away.

“Are you serious?” Dean asks with a glare, and Cas turns around to see what the commotion’s about. “They _just _got here.”

“Look, I’m sorry,” says Summer. “But I’ve been growing stronger because of that thing,” they say as they point at the suffocating air, “so I need to be here for longer.”

“Yeah, and _I_ need to be with Cas for longer.” spits Dean. “Leave us alone. I haven’t seen them in eons.”

“Well, it was… half a year.”

Cas fully turns around and settles onto a glare of their own. “I did not make my way through _that_,” they say, pointing at the atmosphere muddled with suffocation, “just to be told that we have to leave.”

Dean gives their best shit-eating grin at Summer, delighted that Cas is just as eager to be here with them as they are. Cas’s grip on Dean tightens a little and Dean’s grin widens. Upon seeing this, Summer sighs and rolls their eyes.

“One more day and that’s it,” Summer says pointedly. “You know I’m already giving you a _lot _of wiggle room in the schedule for this, right?”

“Aw, you love us,” Dean says.

“I heard Hawai’i is nice at this time of the year,” Cas says.

Summer does a very rude human gesture because, as we all know, Summer is always at Hawai’i at all times of the year. It’s an inside joke.

While Summer takes a very brief temporary break away from Northern Hemisphere, Cas turns proper attention back to Dean. “Where were we?” Cas says, but Dean stops them.

“Are you hurt?”

“We can’t be hurt, Dean.”

“I know, but.” Dean twitches in their spot. “We’re not supposed to go missing, either.”

Seeing Dean’s distress, Cas soothes them with a kiss so gentle that it startles some frogs into waking up from deep slumber. “I know,” Cas murmurs against Dean’s lips. “Dean, I’ll always find you. I promise.”

Dean nods wordlessly and kisses Cas more fervently, speaking their desperation with it, and Cas reciprocates with equal eagerness.

Silently, Cas thinks about how terrible of a year it was and how, looking at the rate of which the suffocation grows, this probably won’t be the only time this happens. Cas can only hope that it won’t happen again so severely.

For now, it’s a sad, cloudy day that drizzles snow and rain all day. Dean and Cas hold each other until their time to depart comes too soon, and as Dean departs for the Southern Hemisphere a day later to pay Australia a visit, they can’t shake off the feeling that the worst is yet to come.

It is unfortunate that Dean and Cas are both very good at predicting their futures.

* * *

To Dean’s delight, some of the humans notice Cas’s misplaced arrival and take it upon themselves to learn more about it. Dean watches them closely to learn more about the suffocation themselves.

These humans name the suffocation ‘greenhouse gas effect’ and dub the incident as a result of ‘global warming’ and then this changes to ‘climate change’. Dean frowns in confusion because they already know about greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide and stuff—but like Cas had said, those stuff have always been around. It’s never caused them a problem before, and Cas certainly never had trouble making their way through it until now.

Dean scoops up the atmosphere in their palms and studies it. The humans are right—it’s littered with carbon dioxide, even more so than before the friendly meteor came to visit the Earth. Dean shakes their hand off in disgust. This causes another snowstorm that Dean doesn’t mean to make, and so late into the year, too. Dean’s frown deepens.

Dean watches as the humans that want to learn more about climate change scramble on their feet to appease other humans that can support them to find out what exactly happened. It’s hard for them to find others that are interested, and even less people to support them on finding out more about it. Perhaps the most infuriating thing is the handful of humans who keep puffing out the stuff for their own gains and refuse to do anything about it. Dean wishes they could punish these humans but they could never single out an individual organism. It just doesn’t work like that.

The next year, Cas is late again but at least they show up this time, much to Dean’s relief. Not so much to Dean’s relief, Cas looks… fainter.

“What the fuck?” Dean circles around Cas with fear gripping their heart. Cas looks so, so tired. “Cas?”

“I don’t know.” Cas looks down at themselves. They hold up their hand, and much to Dean’s horror, Dean can see through them like a fogged-up window. Cas offers a weak smile. “First time for everything?”

“Don’t try to be funny about this,” Dean says miserably. “You’re—” Suddenly they’re choked up, and they want to personally strangle every person who made this possible. “You’re fading.”

“No.” Cas shakes their head and holds Dean into a hug as if _Dean’s _the one who’s gradually disappearing. “Dean, never. I’d never leave you.”

Dean swallows thickly. “But this is—”

“Horrible,” says Summer.

Dean and Cas both jump in surprise. Dean glares. “_Dude_.”

“Sorry,” says Summer. They actually do look apologetic about it this time. “Winter, Spring, it’s time for you to leave.”

Cas nods without a word. They look so _tired_.

“Give them some time to rest,” Dean says, bubbling with anger. “They literally _just _got here. I barely had time to be around this year, too.”

“I know,” Summer says sadly. Dean is surprised to find that Summer is tired, too. “I wish I could stay away for longer too. Trust me, I’m overworked as it is.”

“Then can’t you go away for a little while?” Dean begs.

Summer only shakes their head.

Dean helps Cas up on their feet and pulls them into a firm hug. After they release each other, Dean says, “Hey, look at me.”

When Cas doesn’t look up, Dean leans down to catch their eyes. Cas casts them a woeful look. “Cas, keep sharp. Seriously. You’re scaring me.”

Cas closes their eyes and nods. “I’ll try, Dean.”

Dean caresses Cas’s cheeks, and Cas’s blue, blue eyes flutter open. There are so many good things about being incorporeal entities, one of which is that they will always have each other for as long as the Earth keeps orbiting. The comfort in knowing this is what they’ve lived with for their entire existence, but suddenly this is being stripped away from them and it’s not pleasant to learn that things aren’t as they should be.

“Cas,” Dean says, suddenly gripped with fear that this might be the last time they ever see Cas. “Be careful out there, alright?”

Cas smiles and turns slightly to kiss Dean’s palm. “I’ll see you in a few months.”

Dean nods, and reluctant as they are, they take their leave. When they look back (against the rules but fuck the rules), Cas gives a small wave but soon they’re out of sight as Dean crosses over the oceans.

Dean grits their teeth and stomps forward, helpless to do anything about the situation except to hope that humans will smarten up. Surely they see that this is harming them as much as it’s harming Dean and Cas.

Unfortunately, most of them refuse to see it.

* * *

Cas actually arrives earlier the next year and Dean couldn’t be happier, even though it’s still technically supposed to be Dean’s time. But Cas only shakes their head sadly.

“I thought it was the right time. I didn’t mean to arrive early.” Cas looks around. “It’s starting to mess with my judgement, Dean.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know,” Cas says, sounding just as helpless as Dean feels.

Just then, just over the horizon, Dean spots Summer making their way. They’re about to stand their ground and tell them off but their words die on their lips when they realize Summer is approaching them in tears.

Dean and Cas share a look together, dumbfounded. They’ve never seen Summer cry before.

“What’s wrong?” Dean asks, their stomach sinking at the sight.

“The coral reefs,” Summer says between sobs. “They’re dead.”

“What, _all _of them?”

“Basically.” Summer sob-sighs. “They’re just… They’re dead.”

Cas makes a pitying sound. Everyone knows how fond Summer is of the ocean’s wonderful coral reefs. “What happened?”

“Gone. Obliterated. The ocean’s been doing her best to make the Earth less hot but she’s eaten more of that carbon dioxide stuff than she’s ever done before to get rid of it, and now she’s gone too warm for the things that help to keep the corals alive.”

“The ocean’s been eating more carbon dioxide?” Dean asks, surprised.

Summer nods. “She’s gone sour because of it. She’s at her limit, you know. All the plants are, too.”

“Figuratively or literally?”

“Both.” Summer sniffles. “The Earth’s been grieving, too.”

They pause to listen, and indeed, in the distance they could hear the deep rumbling of the grounds as they split open with the Earth’s anguished cries.

“What about you guys?” Summer asks. “Still out of sync?”

Cas purses their lips with a nod. “And everything is wrong. Birds are laying eggs too soon and others are waking up too late, and everything is being driven up mountain ranges but those are running out, too.”

Summer nods sadly. “Coffee plants are suffering.”

Dean and Cas share a horrified look. Not the coffee plants.

“This is ridiculous,” Cas says with distress. Dean feels queasy in the stomach, too. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“Do?” Summer echoes. “We don’t _do _anything. We simple _are_. The humans are the ones who made this happen so if _they _don’t do anything about it, this is how things will be from now on.”

“But I don’t _want _things to be like this,” Dean says.

Summer only shakes their head.

Dean squeezes Cas’s hand tighter.

* * *

Dean feels stronger and stronger every day. Maybe strong isn’t the right word for it; they’re becoming more and more frequent and intense against their will. They’re on edge these days to gain their control back on how things happen and reel back, but this climate change just has it out for them to make everything difficult for them.

They just about explode when they find out about the polar ice caps.

Dean stomps over to Summer with pure hot fury, Cas quickly following behind them. Summer blinks and backs away.

“What? What’s going on?” they ask, and Dean just about punches them right then and there. Only Cas holding them back stops them.

“Why did you move further down South?” Dean asks, just about ready to kick _someone_’s ass. “You _know_ we have to work together to keep me up there! Now I’m all over the place and my ice caps are melting and do you have any idea just how long it took me to make those—”

Summer holds up their hands with grimace. “That wasn’t me.”

Dean lets out one sharp mocking laugh. “Yeah, bullshit. Who else could do this?”

“Who do you think, genius?”

Dean huffs with anger, but it dies as they realize that Summer isn’t lying. Cas lets go of their arm when Dean relaxes. “This is more of that climate change bullshit from the humans, isn’t it?”

Summer nods, still woeful about the coral reefs.

“The polar bears. What are we going to do about them once all the ice caps are gone? And what about my permafrost? I kept some of the mammoths in there.” Dean paces back and forth while Cas warily watches. Cas, who’s still fading by days. “What about _Cas_?” they explode, and a small avalanche happens somewhere.

“Winter,” says Summer. “You have to come to terms with the fact that we can’t do anything about it.”

Dean wants to rip someone’s hair out. “Then who _can_?”

“They’re trying,” Cas says as they step in between Dean and Summer, and they squeeze Dean’s hands tightly. “Dean, you’ve seen them. It’s not all of them that’s causing this to happen—just a few among the billions of people. And though it’s been slow, the rest of them have been trying.”

“It’s not _enough_.” Dean wants to take Cas away far from Earth to another planet where only they could exist, but they know that Cas would never be happy like that. “They’re not doing enough.”

“They’re trying, “Cas repeats firmly, and though it’s Cas who’s fading away, it feels like Dean’s the one who’s disappearing slowly. “They’ll come through. They always have.”

“But I won’t,” Dean says miserably, and Cas stills. “Without you, I…”

Cas kisses them, as gentle as the morning mist that comes and goes, as lightly as a bird’s song before the sun rises over the horizon. They knock their foreheads together and breathe, away from all the thoughts that make them miserable for a moment.

“Give them time, Dean,” Cas says eventually. “Have faith.”

Dean wishes they could, but what would they ever do with themselves if that faith is betrayed?

What then, if Cas is gone for good?

* * *

It gets harder and harder for Dean and Cas to see each other for longer. One of the rare days when they’re together, Dean holds Cas in their arms and as always, they watch the humans closely.

“If I could,” Dean mutters into Cas’s hair, “I’d freeze every one of those so-called climate change deniers to death.”

Cas looks back at them. “That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Dean punches them lightly and Cas laughs quietly, glad to find humour even in such dire times. “Someone’s gotta do it.”

“Well,” Cas says quietly, “they’re doing it to themselves, aren’t they?”

Dean deflates, and they go back to watching humans, equal parts hope and urgency.

**Author's Note:**

> Useful places/tools to learn more about climate change:
> 
> [IPCC](https://www.ipcc.ch/), who take all the scientific publication around climate change and compile it into a report
> 
> [sci-hub](https://sci-hub.se/), a website that grants free access to published articles that are behind paywalls
> 
> [NASA](https://climate.nasa.gov/), who use easy everyday language to help teach people more about climate change.
> 
> These are just a few resources. I encourage y'all to go out there and keep yourselves educated so that we as a society come together and demand changes from the governments around the world to become more conscious about environmental issues and do something about it!


End file.
